‘Cook, KP should bat long’

The England middle-order batsman believes that the likes of captain Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell have the ability to hit big hundreds and also to save the Test.

“We have two world-class batsmen at the crease and Bell is still to come,” Patel said at the media conference, on Friday. “Both Cook and Pietersen can score big hundreds.”

After having himself bowled left-arm spin, Patel feels that Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha are getting turn as the ball is new and hard. “I think the ball is hard… It spins when it is harder. When it gets soft, we can get in. Cookie and KP should bat long.”

Praising the Indian batsmen, he said: “Sometimes you have to give credit to the batsmen… (Virender) Sehwag played an outstanding knock.”